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Doctors Optimistic U.S. Congresswoman Will Survive Shooting

احدث اجدد واروع واجمل واشيك Doctors Optimistic U.S. Congresswoman Will Survive Shooting

Jan. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Doctors are optimistic U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona will survive being shot in the head by a man who opened fire at her community meeting in Tucson, killing six people including a federal judge.

A man taken into custody after yesterday's shooting had "a troubled past" and had made threats against public figures, Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik told reporters. Authorities are looking for another man who may have accompanied the suspect to the meeting, the sheriff said.

At least 18 people were shot, and among those who died were U.S. District Judge John Roll and a 9-year-old girl.

Giffords, a Democrat beginning her third two-year term in the U.S. House, survived a single gunshot to the head and underwent surgery at University Medical Center in Tucson, Dr. Peter Rhee said at a press conference. Giffords was responding to commands, and neurosurgeons were optimistic for her recovery, Rhee said.

"With guarded optimism I hope that she will survive but this is a very devastating wound," former U.S. Surgeon General Richard Carmona said later at Dupnik's news conference. Carmona said he spoke with Giffords's surgeons and viewed medical reports. "She's severely injured," he said.

The suspect taken into custody was identified as Jared Loughner, 22, according to a U.S. law enforcement official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to release the information. A pistol was used in the shootings, the official said.

'Tragedy' for Country

President Barack Obama, speaking to reporters in Washington, called the shooting "a tragedy for our entire country."

"Violence has no place in a free society," the president said earlier in an e-mailed statement. Obama sent Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Robert Mueller to Arizona to lead the probe into the shooting.

Legislative business on the U.S. House calendar for the coming week is being postponed, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, a Virginia Republican, said in a statement. The House had planned to vote Jan. 12 on a repeal of Obama's health-care overhaul.

Dupnik said he is "not convinced" the suspect acted alone. Dupnik said authorities had a photo of the man who may have accompanied the gunman and who was being viewed as a "person of interest." He described the person as white and "probably in his 50s."

Dupnik also said a "suspicious package" found outside Giffords's Tucson offices was being investigated.

Witness to Shooting

Alex Villec, 19-year-old volunteer for Giffords's campaign, told reporters at the scene that he was just feet away when the man opened fire. The man barged through a line of people waiting to meet Giffords and asked to speak with her, he said.

Villec, a sophomore at Georgetown University, said he told the man to go to the back of the group and wait his turn. He did, and returned several minutes later, when he opened fire.

"It was clear who he was going for, he was going for the congresswoman," Villec said. He hid behind a pillar as the shooting continued, then ran. "I'm lucky," he said.

Two people wrestled the gunman to the ground, said Richard Kastigar, a bureau chief for the Pima County Sheriff's Office.

"Some very brave folks during this horrific event tackled the shooter and sat on him," Kastigar said.

Dupnik said the suspect "ran into the crowd and when he got to her he started shooting." He said the suspect hadn't made any statements to authorities and invoked his constitutional rights.

'Disgrace to Arizona'

John McCain, the Republican Arizona senator who ran against Obama for president, called the assailant "a disgrace to Arizona, this country and the human race."

Giffords, 40, was first elected in 2006 from Arizona's 8th congressional district, which includes a 114-mile (183- kilometer) border with Mexico. She previously served in the Arizona Legislature and was chief executive officer of her family's tire and automotive business.

Giffords is married to Mark Kelly, a U.S. Navy pilot and NASA astronaut and is the only congresswoman with a military spouse on active duty.

Roll, the judge who was fatally shot, was named to the U.S. District Court for Arizona by President George H.W. Bush in 1991. He became chief judge of the court in 2006.

Roll, 63, previously served as a judge in the Arizona state courts and as an assistant U.S. attorney.

'One of Our Own'

"We in the judiciary have suffered the terrible loss of one of our own," Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. said in a statement. "Judge John Roll was a wise jurist who selflessly served Arizona and the nation with great distinction."

The congresswoman was holding a "Congress on Your Corner" event at a grocery store when the gunman appeared and started shooting.

Tucson resident Roger Whithed, 55, said he lives three doors away from Loughner's family and that he and others on the street don't know the family well.

The street is a block of single-story homes with cacti and desert plants in the front yards. The home identified by Whithed as belonging to Loughner's family was cordoned off with tape and blocked with police cars.

Douglas Smith, a spokesman for Army Recruiting Command at Fort Knox, Kentucky, said Loughner attempted to enlist in the Army in 2008 and was rejected.

The attack was condemned by the current and former speakers of the House of Representatives.

"I am horrified by the senseless attack," House Speaker John Boehner, an Ohio Republican, said in a statement. "An attack on one who serves is an attack on all who serve."

Meeting With Constituents

Boehner's predecessor, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, said in an e-mailed statement, "It is especially tragic that she was attacked as she was meeting with her constituents."

Dupnik said that while officials don't know the gunman's motive, he was concerned about extreme rhetoric in the U.S.

"The anger, the hatred, the bigotry has gotten out of control," Dupnik said. "Unfortunately, Arizona has become sort of the capital. This has become the Mecca for bigotry and prejudice."

Such language "may be free speech but it's not without consequences," the sheriff said.

--With assistance from Brendan McGarry, Dan Hart, Tim Homan and Shobhana Chandra in Washington. Editors: Mark Rohner, Laurie Asseo.

To contact the reporter on this story: Drew Armstrong in Washington at darmstrong17@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Mark Silva at msilva34@bloomberg.net

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